West Yorkshire charity's annual dragon boat race at Wakefield park raises more than £26,000

Hundreds of spectators cheered on crews, made up of organisations and businesses from across the region, last Saturday (September 23) at the popular Wakefield park.

Fans watched as the 27 crews took to the water in a tense dragon boat raise to raise vital funds for Forget Me Not, a charity that supports babies and children with life-shortening conditions and their families across West Yorkshire.

Alongside the races were numerous shoreside activities including face-painting, tombolas and hook-a-duck, all organised by Forget Me Not and the organisations taking part.

Vicky Lough, events manager at Forget Me Not, said: “What a brilliant day we had at Pugneys Country Park for our fourth – and biggest yet - dragon boat race!

"A massive thank you to all the businesses and organisations who put forward teams to take part – and to everyone who raced in one of our dragon boats!

“Of course, we couldn’t have put on an event like this without our sponsors Polyseam. With their support, we have been able to keep event costs down, which means every penny – over £26,000 so far - raised by our participants will go straight to helping the local children and families we support.

“Big thanks too to Dragon Boat Events who managed the races and our medal supplier Made by Cooper.

"We’re also indebted to our amazing team of staff and volunteers who made sure everyone there had a really good day!”